Pope elevates Spanish missionary to sainthood

Spanish missionary seen by some to represent ills of colonial Calif.

By Kevin Diaz, Washington Bureau

September 23, 2015Updated: September 23, 2015 11:41pm

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Pope Francis arrives in the popemobile at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, for the Canonization Mass for Junipero Serra. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) less

Pope Francis arrives in the popemobile at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, for the Canonization Mass for Junipero Serra. (AP ... more

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Pope Francis raises the chalice as he celebrates the Canonization Mass for Blessed Junipero Serra outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (Jim Bourg/Pool via AP) less

Pope Francis raises the chalice as he celebrates the Canonization Mass for Blessed Junipero Serra outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, ... more

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Pope Francis, right, bows to the Eucharist on the altar during a Mass outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Pope Francis, right, bows to the Eucharist on the altar during a Mass outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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Pope Francis holds an outdoor Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, to canonize Junipero Serra. (Tony Gentile/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis holds an outdoor Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, to canonize Junipero Serra. (Tony Gentile/Pool Photo via AP)

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Pope Francis arrives in the popemobile for the Canonization Mass of Blessed Junipero Serra, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) less

Pope Francis arrives in the popemobile for the Canonization Mass of Blessed Junipero Serra, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. (AP ... more

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US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Pope Francis wave during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, September 23, 2015. More than 15,000 people packed the South Lawn for a full ceremonial welcome on Pope Francis' historic maiden visit to the United States. AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images less

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US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Pope Francis wave during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, September 23, 2015. More than 15,000 people ... more

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Pope Francis takereceives a kiss, outside the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States on September 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/MOLLY RILEYMOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images

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Pope Francis takereceives a kiss, outside the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States on September 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/MOLLY RILEYMOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images

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President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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Pope Francis reaches for a child from the popemobile that was brought to him, during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, following a state arrival ceremony hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) less

Pope Francis reaches for a child from the popemobile that was brought to him, during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, following a state arrival ceremony hosted by President Barack Obama at the ... more

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Pope Francis reaches from the popemobile for a child that is brought to him, during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Pope Francis reaches from the popemobile for a child that is brought to him, during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

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Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the popemobile during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, following a state arrival ceremony at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) less

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the popemobile during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, following a state arrival ceremony at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama. (AP ... more

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Pope elevates Spanish missionary to sainthood

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WASHINGTON — Amid old bones, chants and invocations in Spanish and a nearly forgotten Native American tongue, Pope Francis canonized 18th-century Spanish missionary Junípero Serra on Wednesday, opening a misty window into the conquest of the American West.

The Mass before 30,000 worshippers on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception gave Hispanic Americans their first Catholic saint and made the “Apostle of California” the first person to be declared a saint on American soil.

But Serra’s elevation to sainthood by the popular Latin American pope wasn’t universally embraced.

Even as the church holds up the Franciscan friar as a protector of native people and spreader of the faith from Mexico to California, he remains a contentious figure among Native American groups who protested bitterly against his elevation to sainthood.

“It’s a day of mourning for us,” said Valentin Lopez, chairman of California’s Amah Mutsun tribal band, who presented a petition to Vatican officials in New York this week. “The church continues to not recognize the humanity of our ancestors and all indigenous people.”

At Wednesday’s Mass, Vatican officials, who have long sought to atone for the injustices of the church against native people, blended traditional Latin liturgy with Old Testament verses read in Chochenyo, a dialect of the Ohlone language spoken by the Bay Area tribes that Serra evangelized.

Serra’s physical remains — bones — were held in an ornamental reliquary presented to Pope Francis by Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian whose ancestors became Christians at Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

To Galvan, participation in the canonization ceremony represented healing and reconciliation.

“I see this as a wonderful opportunity for the Catholic Church to reach out to native people, me included,” said Galvan, a curator at Mission Dolores and one of Serra’s leading advocates. “The legacy of Junípero Serra’s canonization is that native people who have felt ostracized, excluded, left out from the story of the California missions, are invited in.”

The strains swirling around Serra’s canonization surrounded the 78-year-old pontiff even as he celebrated the open-air Mass under a late-afternoon sun glinting off the blue and gold tiles of the Basilica’s massive Romanesque dome.

Before the pope stood Vincent Medina, assistant curator at Mission Dolores, who read from a specially prepared translation of the prophet Isaiah in the Chochenyo dialect, a language he is helping revive.

Medina has publicly opposed Serra’s canonization but agreed to participate in the ceremony to honor his ancestors and lend visibility to his people.

Pope Francis addressed the native concerns in his homily: “Junípero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it — mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.”

Serra’s canonization took place hours after President Barack Obama greeted Pope Francis at the White House and on the eve of his historic address to Congress on Thursday.

But administration officials steered clear of Serra and other social controversies, even as Vice President Joe Biden, the first Catholic vice president, attended the Mass.

“The Pope sets his own agenda, speaks his own mind and has his own pastoral mission,” Obama adviser Ben Rhodes said in a media briefing on the papal visit. “We would not in any way want to create any expectation that the pope is going to be a voice in U.S. domestic political issues.”

Other political figures were on hand, including Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, a convert to Catholicism, the religion of his Mexican-born wife, Columba.

The sanctification of a Hispanic priest by the first South American pope also brought throngs of Latin American Catholics to the Basilica — the nation’s largest Catholic edifice.

“His support gives us a lot of hope,” said 26-year-old Miguel Buleje, a “DREAMer” from San Antonio whose undocumented parents brought him to the United States from Peru when he was 14.

Entire families lined the street outside the Basilica, clogged with worshippers who didn’t have tickets. “He speaks our language. I am in heaven,” said Maureen Morales, a 33-year-old Costa Rican immigrant from Virginia who stood outside the grounds with her mother and eight other family members.

But the canonization was also an occasion for reflection and vigils for many Native Americans across the U.S. who have protested and signed petitions opposing Serra, whom they see as a symbol of European colonialism.

“Father Serra was responsible for the deception, exploitation, oppression, enslavement and genocide of thousands of Indigenous Californians, ultimately resulting in the largest ethnic cleansing in North America,” read an online petition that was signed by more than 10,000 around the world.

Lopez and other native activists — including members of the American Indian Movement — traveled to Washington and New York, where they met briefly with Vatican officials.

Among the activists was Norma Flores, who works with the Kizh Nation Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians in Los Angeles. “They said they’re not canonizing the missions,” Flores said of the church officials. “They’re canonizing the man and the good things he did.”

Pope Francis has gone to lengths to apologize for the Catholic Church’s treatment of indigenous people during colonialism. During a visit to South America in July, the pope acknowledged that “many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God.”